As mentioned I planned to do a thread where we keep a daily picture diary of our latest litter of baby hamsters.

It is important to state here that handling baby hamsters when they are very young is generally not recommended as it can, particularly in a first litter, increase the chances of the mother killing the babies. It should never be done in Syrian hamsters. We did not handle our first litter at all until they were two weeks old. The pictures here in the first few days were taken during very brief handling periods after we had built a bond with the parents over time, which is why they allow us to do this. Always with great care and in the presence of the parents.
We do not recommend handling your baby hamsters when under 10 days unless you are a very experienced hamster keeper.
We also do not endorse hamster breeding by everyone and feel that it should be left to specialist hamster breeders.

So here we go:

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Baby hamsters day 1

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Baby hamsters day 2



Elly suckling the babies


Elly suckling two of her babies

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Baby hamsters day 3
I decided to go for two close ups today and will try to include close ups now to give a more detailed view of how they change.

Remember that we do not recommend that inexperienced hamster keepers handle babies at this stage.

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Baby hamsters day 4

Remember that we do not recommend that inexperienced hamster keepers handle babies at this stage.


This one shows that already you can tell which will be grey and which fawn.

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Baby hamsters day 5

Remember that we do not recommend that inexperienced hamster keepers handle babies at this stage.

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Baby hamsters day 6

The baby hamsters all in a row

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Baby hamsters day 7
And the fur is now really staring to show up

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Baby hamsters day 8

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Baby hamsters day 9

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Baby hamsters day 10

The fur is really starting to show now and this one shows the 3 colour types that we have


This one show Elly taking her baby back from Laura


This has reached the maximum allowed for the length of one thread so for baby hamsters day 11 onwards see:
Day by day development of baby hamsters - Part 2

Ahh good idea, dose elly mind you holding her babys?

Good question Tomm. No she doesn't at all. Catherine did a great post about dwarf hamsters and the possibility of them killing their babies. Like us she has never experienced this. They are definiately most nervous over there first litter but when they get to know you dwarfies are very loyal and trusting.
She knows we mean no harm and allows us the priviledge of holding her babies, for short spells. We always put them straight back if she gets a bit agitated.

aww thats lovely.i bet it was a lovely suprise to find some tiny babys that morning. was it abit of a paninc when you found out or was you okay with it?

Now that you are dealing with your third litter you can see how I can calmly pick up babies without fear of them being hurt. You also don't mind photographing them. Dwarfie mothers really do trust us and in some ways expect our help. Elly is a great mom. She has no trouble nursing babies. It is great that you can get day to day pictures of the little guys. They grow so fast it is amazing! There is also a set pattern to their growth. You can tell from birth who has red eyes and who has black eyes. The stripe will appear soon. With practice you can identify colors after a few days.
I have multiple litters this weekend. It is a new birth season.

Quoted from reduckto

aww thats lovely.i bet it was a lovely suprise to find some tiny babys that morning. was it abit of a paninc when you found out or was you okay with it?

This litter was fine, we've got used to it now and are really pleased.
The first litter was a different matter - surprise, disbelief then panic was how it actually occurred.
Laura started shouting "Elly's had babies" at the top of her voice, I thought  she was winding us up and nonchalantly ambled in just to prove that this was the case, then my jaw dropped as I saw the little pile of baby hamsters.
That was when we first "met" Catherine, she replied to our blog.....and, as they say, the rest is history!

We called the blog post:

Honey, my hamster ate the kids

As they moved the babies overnight at first the next moring we couldn't find them and we thought they had eaten the babies, we were very relieved to discover that they hadn't.

lol i read the blog. it would be very sad achally if elly had of eaten them. i bet you were suprised but also REALLY exsited on what to come.

The first litter is scary and also a shock when you don't expect it. I found out that Golden Skinks were live bearers when they gave birth. I was excited, but terrified. I knew she was pregnant, but I expected eggs. With a first litter you are always so afraid of doing something wrong. Isn't it amazing how much you can relax now and just enjoy the litter. Even Elly can relax more because she has done this before and feels confident. I am glad you have had more litters so you can see what it is like to comfortable with raising baby hamsters. It has its joys.

Baby skinks, I bet they are lovely. As with holding baby hamsters. I think you should only hold them if your hamster is quite tame and trusts you (i.e. if a hamster has babies shortly after being got from the pet shop then not), if the hamster has had a litter before and if is not syrian. I woul think syrians would be more fussed about scent. With them being solitary and all. Its great holding these ones. They are wonderful. We can't keep any this time though  . We will be selling them, if we gave them for free their fate may be in a snakes stomach. They are wonderful. Really cute when they are little red blobs.

i would love to buy one but yesterday i looked on the map at durham. and i think it would be like 4/5 hours of traveling. and my dad probs wouldent let me

When we first got Elly and Sunny we didn't even know that they weren't the same sex so you can imagine how surprised we were to discover babies!  Even then, because both parents help look after the young and we didn't dare interfere, we didn't know who was the mum.  We thought it was probably Sunny and were really surprised when Catherine knew straight away from our photos, that it was Elly who was the female (she hadn't been named at his stage).  Sounds really daft now, I know but at the time we were really naive

It is amazing when you look back and realize how much you have learned. You wonder how it wasn't obvious  at the time. I forget what it was like sometimes. I started out not knowing, but at least I did know gender and had planned the breeding. Still, I had no idea what to do. Good thing the girls knew their stuff.

So do you have day 5 yet? I can't wait to see they're so cute, and they really do grow up to fast!

Quoted from animal_luver_Bekah101

So do you have day 5 yet? I can't wait to see they're so cute, and they really do grow up to fast!

I'll be taking pics of them this evening and John will post them tomorrow  

Oh okey =)

I would recommend looking back up this thread to see day 6 picture, it is pretty special with all 7 babies in a row.

Good shot of the day seven babies. I am seeing three wild type agoutis. Then there are two that should be sunny's color. Then I see two that look to me like they have the agouti pattern, but will be more gray than brown in color. Does that match what you are seeing?

Very interesting pictures. Love the one of them all lined up! You tend to find most forums don't allow pics of baby Hamsters with their eyes still closed so its quite a novelty to see these    

I agree with Laura, its probably not best to mess with a young mother Hamster that you haven't had very long and don't know well. And of course Syrians definitely don't welcome any interference with their nests, its a good 2/3 weeks before you get to handle those little cuties  

Quoted from Spacemonkey

...its probably not best to mess with a young mother Hamster that you haven't had very long and don't know well.

I agree.  It is amazing how Elly clearly has learned to trust us. With her first litter, we were really anxious and didn't dare touch anything.  Now, when we go to look in on the pups, Elly spontaneously comes out of the nesting box and goes and snuggles in with Sunny in their "bedroom".  It really feels as though she is saying "go on then, I'll have a rest whilst you take a look"  

Its nice when they trust you like that. I haven't bred Dwarfs, I've only ever owned 2 very nervous ones that I rescued from a very abusive home so I've never even had the pleasure of holding them (the 2 I had were very traumatized and died shortly after I brought them home)

Maybe I'll have to get some in the future  

Any idea why some forums don't allow posting of babies before they open their eyes, as I didn't know that?

This is the explanation from one forum on why they do not allow pics of babies without their eyes open:

The reason for this is because there is severe risk of cannibalism of the litter by the mother if she is prematurely disturbed or stressed and we do not want to encourage people viewing such pictures to regard it as acceptable and to disturb the nest and mother for the sake of photos. Although some experienced breeders with experienced mothers may risk taking photos it is not recommended practice

Yes Diane suspected that was the reason, which I guess may have some justification.

Although, I have to say that I feel that it is a bit of a patriarchal view to take, and I'm sure it would be difficult to prove a link between pictures and actions on the part of inexperienced hamsters keepers.

I think the situation is different with Syrians, but we have no direct experience there, but neither ourselves nor Catherine have had any experience of our dwarfs eating their young. I have gone to some lengths to explain where I have posted these pictures that with the first litter you have to be especially careful and always aware of the parentf mood and feelings.

The advantage of handling them young is that they tame very easily and are very comfotable with handling as adults.

I have always broken all the unwritten rules of hamster keeping and have done very well. And so have my girls. I still firmly believe in handling the babies(very carefully and respectfully). I have photographed babies and moms without any problems. My girls are used to me and I approach them without fear. The only time I had to stay away from my girls was when I got badly frightened by a bad situation outside of my home(I wasn't hurt, but it really scared me). I was giving off stress phernomes and it was 24 hours before I could go near the hamsters. I had to stay out of the room. Normally they sense calm confidence in me and they are fine.
Dwarf Hamsters do not kill and eat their young! They will eat any babies that die and so many die because they are born very undeveloped. That is why natured provided for them to have so many litters. They breed fast and they breed frequent so survival of each baby is not necessary to survival of the species. Survival of the species is their driving goal. Each hamster has a short life span. It is all about the species as a whole.

I will match my experience and confidence against any hamster "old wives tale" any day. I think we should post  hamster pictures for the sake of information and not let "superstitions" inhibite us!

Oh so pretty, can't wait to see tomorrow's!!!

Ew wouldn't eating their baby taste and fell funny? and wouldn't there be blood everywehere? Is eating your dead baby a way for the mommy hamster to get over her sadness? Do mom hamster even feel sadness if and when their baby/s die?